


Persuasion

by clicktrack_heart



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Historical, Community: hannibalkink, Confused Will, Kink Meme, M/M, Manipulative Hannibal, References to Jane Austen, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Very strange AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-01
Updated: 2015-12-01
Packaged: 2018-05-04 08:08:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5326901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clicktrack_heart/pseuds/clicktrack_heart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For a request in the Hannibal kink meme: "Think in a Jane Austen era where Will is the heir but of a very tiny inheritance and in the mean time, he's in a huge hurry to marry off his siblings before they get tagged as old maids or some such. Hannibal offers to help but for a price."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Persuasion

If the question had come from anyone other than Doctor (and Count) Hannibal Lecter it would’ve been seen as boorish and all together coarse. 

Yet Hannibal asked Will so unexpectedly, so charmingly, as he casually adjusted the shining silver buttons of his coat cuffs in the somewhat drab Graham family parlor.

Will had been expecting the usual friendly farewell. Not this moment. And not this question.

“Why haven’t you married, Will?”

The words sunk in slowly, as if filtering through a great fog in far off rain-streaked valleys. His first reaction was, Heaven forbid, to blush. When it came to Hannibal, he was utterly helpless to the warming of his cheeks. He knew Hannibal saw it. The doctor traced his face with his eyes as if he was _touching_ it himself. The faintest smile curled his wide lips, setting off his high cheekbones.

“Are you suggesting I’m becoming an old maid?” Will teased, trying to cover his shock.

“My question was serious, I assure you.”

“I could ask you the same thing,” Will managed. 

“I only meant to see if I might be of some assistance,” Hannibal said smoothly, unruffled by Will’s abrupt tone. 

“Some assistance?” He echoed, biting his lip and looking down. Did Hannibal mean... surely not! But Will’s stomach danced with butterflies all the same.

“I assumed you were waiting for your sisters,” Hannibal enunciated calmly, as if Will had gone daft. “To marry.”

“You wish to marry one of them?” Will asked, brow creasing. He couldn't stop his thought- was this the cause of all of Hannibal’s visits? Did he finally know the truth? Had it all been a clever ruse to catch a glimpse of the eldest and bravest of his sisters, Alana? Or his clever adopted middle sister Beverly? Or even, Will wondered, the youngest and terribly shy Abigail? 

Hannibal had never shown a romantic interest in any of them but what else could it be? Will forced himself to be realistic. Of course, a man of Hannibal's standing would want a wife. His sisters were all beautiful and smart. Will would be a fool to tell Hannibal no. 

“I have no desire or inclination to marry one of your sisters. However, it distresses me to see you worry about their futures,” Hannibal said, interrupting Will's thoughts. “I would like to help you find them suitable mates.”

Will’s jaw nearly dropped. 

“In all honesty, you and I both know it is unfair to blame my sisters for my lack of a wife,” he told Hannibal hastily. “The fault of that is wholly my own. We both know I have the reputation in our gentle society for being... unstable. I fear few would wish to meet me in holy matrimony.”

“You do not do yourself justice," Hannibal said gravely. "But truly, I believe several of my old friends from medical school could make excellent matches for each of your sisters. If the gentlemen are approved by you and yours sisters first, of course.”

“And you? Dr. Lecter, I must ask, what will you obtain from this? This... matchmaking?” Will asked, automatically wincing at the questions as they bubbled from his lips.

Hannibal merely raised an eyebrow. “It would be my happiness to see your sisters married to men of high standing and large fortune.”

“How could I repay you? You know my father...There is hardly any dowry for any of my sisters. Our estate is...”

“Will.” Hannibal reached for Will’s hand, effectively stoppering his fretful speech. And with just the lightest, sweetest touch, Will was speechless. 

He felt Hannibal’s thumb stroke intimately against the inside of his wrist, mapping the blue veins there. Will was wholly uncomfortable, flustered-- his blush felt as though it had traveled from his face to his navel in one fell, firey swoop. 

“Hannibal,” he pleaded, his voice trembling. He didn’t dare pull away.

The other man smiled, still caressing his hand as if it were a fragile bird. Will glanced up in spite of himself, needing to see. Wanting the last puzzle piece of Hannibal’s visits to fall into place.

Unlike the gentle touch to his wrist, in Hannibal’s gaze, there was nothing timid to behold. In the fullness of Hannibal's dark eyes, in the rich, satin promise in them, Will found what he was looking for. It was as if Hannibal had lowered a ballroom mask that he wore for polite society, allowing Will to see a rarer, truer... hungrier self. 

Like smoke rising from a fire, something answered within Will.

“You need not repay me, my Will,” Hannibal said. "But perhaps one day, once all of your sisters are happily engaged, you will consider sitting for a portrait for me. A portrait of my choosing.”

Will’s heart clambered.

“Yes,” he breathed. “I accept.”

The hand on his wrist tightened, almost imperceptibly. With his teeth, Hannibal smiled.

**Author's Note:**

> Weeee... I really loved this prompt, couldn't help myself though it was hard to not write a lot more of it! ;)


End file.
